Next to Me

Chapter One: Moving In

Author's Note: I'm so sorry. To everyone reading this, to Sam, and to everyone else involved.

There's something interesting about moving, especially when it's halfway across the country. Today is my first day in Los Angeles and, having come from a small town in Ohio, probably the first real day of my life. My neighborhood is supposedly a good one: pretty quiet, lots of family, another group of twenty-somethings living together here as well. Or so my roommate says.

"Mia!" My roommate comes running out of the house, barefoot and in her pajamas even though it's three in the afternoon. Speak of the devil. "How was your drive?" She immediately grabs a box out of the backseat of my car.

"Hey, Kacey! It was way too long, but it was okay," I reply, grabbing the box in the passenger seat and following her inside.

After a quick tour of the house, we both go back outside to finish unloading my car. After grabbing two of the last three boxes, I look over at the house next door. I drop both boxes right away. A boy with unkempt blonde hair and glasses jumps over the short fence separating our driveway from his lawn and picks up the boxes.

"Hi, I'm Sam," He smiles. No duh. He's Sam Miller, of course I know him! Small-town South Dakota pastor's son, lead singer of Paradise Fears, totally adorable. "Are you okay?"

I take a deep breath, shaking off the shock. I smile sheepishly at him. "Yeah, sorry about that... I'm Mia. It's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, too!" He gestures with his chin to the boxes in his hand. "Where should I, um, put these?"

I slip my hands under the boxes and brace myself for when he lets go of them. "I can take them, thank you..."

"No problem! It was great to meet you, neighbor!" He replies. I swear that he winked at me before returning to his side of the fence and going inside.

I go into my new home and set the boxes down on top of the last box, which Kacey must have brought in while I was being starstruck. "Kacey!" I shriek.

She casual swaggers into the hall, grinning. "Yeah, Mia? Is everything okay?" She asks innocently.

"You didn't tell me that group of twenty-somethings was Sam Miller and his friends! I can't believe you!" I'm between laughing and yelling at this point, still completely overwhelmed by the lack of sleep I've had recently and by meeting the lead singer of one of my favorite bands.

"Oh, like you would've hesitated to move if I told you!" She giggles.

"No..." I admit, "but I would have been more prepared for when I actually met him!"

I had never met Sam before. While his band tours all around the United States, they never came near my hometown. It is way too small. And when the nearest show was hours away, it was impossible to convince my parents to let me go see them.

Kacey raises an eyebrow. "We both know I saved you from embarrassing yourself even more than you think you did. Anyways... It's a Friday night, we're in LA, and I happen to know where all the cool kids hang out. So, hurry up and unpack so that we can both get ready and go!"

"Kacey!" I groan. She's notorious for getting us both into bad situations. I don't argue, though, and am in my room unpacking by the end of the hour.

After showering, I check my phone. An update from Twitter is the first thing on the list: samtwomiller is following you.

"Kacey! You did not tell Sam my last name!" I shriek again.

"I did, too! Last week! I'm surprised he's just now following you!" She shouts back. I can almost hear the smile in her voice.

I open Twitter and am met right away with a DM. Of course, it's from Sam. i heard you'll be out with kacey tonight. i hope we have time to chat. :)

It takes me a full half hour to formulate a reply. Well, tonight will be interesting, to say the least.